6/24
Today we had class and watched a movie called The Ballad of Narayama. This movie was about an old Japanese village where, one the people get old enough, their eldest child carries them to Narayama mountain to die alone. It was a pretty weird movie. =x But it showed lots of cultural things about Japan, I suppose. Like family structure and ones responsibility to family as well as community. Yeah...
Theeen was JST which was as uneventful as ever. We learned about mathy terms and used them.
At manga club, I screen tone'd my page. It took about two hours. The little details were difficult. @_@ I left pretty much right after. Then, one of the kids from another school went to GEO (the rental place) with me to see what it was like. Then we went to Katsuya for foods and Marue for groceries. At this point I realized my blog post was due in a half hour!!
I get back and post it up quickly. I think it came out pretty badly. Everyone else's blog from hoshi gumi was looong.
6/25
Today in language class we went over daily kanji, host family phrases, causative, and...other stuff that I don't remember. XD One kid in class, who has been being awful lately, was even more so today. He was just very non responsive and dead in class. And disrespectful. Apparently he's said some awful things outside of class, too. =/
At Rpro (research project class) we learned more about search engines and got feedback on our topics. Mine is solar powered heating. We did a tiny bit of research and that was that.
I went to club for a little and it was mostly reading manga. I left pretty early because there was supposed to be a picnic/bbq thing by the apartments.
At around 6:30 I got to the picnic and there were lots of people and tables and food out. However, we didn't start eating for a while. It was pot luck so most people brought stuff they made. When we did eat, the food was awesome. *_* There was also a variety of juices and tea. It was really nice. But I left soon after because I wasn't really talking to anyone anyway and I got bored quickly.
I proceeded to stay up late doing homework. =x I'm boring.
6/26
This was probably the most interesting day of my week. Got up and dressed, ate, and sat in the lounge for a while doing internet stuff. Ended up going to the self study center because this one kid who isn't even part of the program was in the lounge. Did stoofs and blahblahblah. ~~~~
At 2 pm Jackie and I got picked up by our young host parents. It was raining. Their car was nice and had a...a what..a TV IN THE FRONT??!?!?! That's right. In the little console in the front of the car, upon a button push, a thin screen slides out and up. It was a tv screen. XD Insane! Anyway, the back seat had this cushie, yellow, quilted thing for us to sit on. We made small conversation with Hisae and Hiroshi (Sae and Hiro). What do we do for fun? How often do we study? What do we study? What do we wanna do after graduation? etc. We first went to a book store. Our original plan to swim in the ocean was scrapped since it was raining. The book store they took us to was amazing! It was called Kanazawa Beans. It was huge and white on the inside. Lovely! We found the dictionary section (I needed one) and found a perfect tiny English-Japanese, Japanese-English dictionary. But then we spotted a Hello Kitty dictionary. *_* It was bigger, twice as much in price...but it was leather and pink. XD The only reason I didn't get it was that it didn't have pronunciations, just kanji. =( We then looked at other parts of the book store (notably, manga). So many thiiings! Augh it was beautiful.
After that we went to a place called Don Quixote. This was probably my first real culture shock of Japan. We only visited one floor and it was...insane. Color everywhere. Signs everywhere. STUFF everywhere. And I do mean stuff. Everything ever. Contacts, accessories, ties, bags, wigs, sexy costumes, shoes for both genders, kigurumi, home decorations, toys, appliances, a GROCERY SECTION! All jam packed together on one floor. It was difficult to walk! @_@ I ended up buying myself a nice hello kitty watch for 999 yen because my watch battery died recently and I haven't been able to find one the right size here. Some awesome things I saw: giant HK pillows, Gloomy kigurumi, Eva car accessories (support our troops ribbons, except they were Eva related), skippy peanut butter... XD We didn't go to the other floors, but I hear there is an arcade on the first floor.
Then we went to a grocery store that I do not remember the name of. Outside, there were a bunch of foreigner muscle men. They all had long hair pony tails, were super tan, and had large muscles. I was like "SURFERS? HERE? WHAT?" It was SOOO random. Not American, though. Some random language... Anyway, the grocery store was like Wegmans compared to the Marue that we're used to here. *_* It has everything. Our family picked up what we (me and Jackie) thought would be dinner. But it ended up not being. Anyway, they bought us snacks and drinks for the road since it was a two hour drive to their house.
Two hour drive. I mostly slept but I also played a little bit of Pokemon. At one point we stopped and looked at the ocean since they live nearby.
Then we got to the house. It was huge and very very classic Japanese. They had sliding doors, a little shrine inside, a family shrine(?) that was almost all gold, tons of traditional paintings and even Japanese style dolls. But then they also had modern stuff like very modern toilets and I saw a power rangers figurine. XD We were brought to the tatami living room and saw that there were LITERALLY stacks upon stacks of okinomiyaki waiting for us. *____* OMG YUUUM!! We ended up waiting quite a while because the main table had to actually be sat. But we met Hisae's mother, father, and grandmother who are all very nice. The mother and grandmother had made dinner. The father reminded me of a crazy old american father. In the living room was a picture from Hisae and Hiroshi's wedding. They had a traditional Japanese style wedding JUST under a year ago. ^^ So beautiful! Hiro, who is very young and kinda looks like a punk, chatted with Jackie and I while we waited for food. He likes going out a lot, it seems.
For dinner, we had rice with beans, a DELICIOUS soup with potatoes and meat, and okinomiyaki of course. OMG it was all so good. <3 <3 <3 the Okinomiyaki had octopus in it that the mother had bought/caught THAT DAY I believe. We got to see Hisae cut up the rest of it for leftovers after dinner. =x It was a whole little octopus. Crazy! Apparently they walk to the ocean so...fresh fish all the time! Most of the conversation during dinner was a little awkward cause speaking is hard for both of us. But we managed. =D
The mother and grandmother were both nervous, Hisae said, because they've never had a foreigner over before. X3 After dinner was cleared away (we got to keep our leftovers!!!), we had cherries and pineapple for dessert. I showed them a picture of my family and they were very excited and I explained who everyone was n stuff. Then we chatted more. And then Hiro unleashed his secret.
When we met him the first time, he told us he had only been to Hawaii when he was young and that was it. Apparently, he's been living in America for 10 years, teaching, and knows English fluently. He lives in Kansas with Hisae. =x WTF! XD He explained that they decided to not tell us so we could have a "real Japanese family" experience. We both appreciated it, I think, since that was the point. But on the ride home we spoke all English. He said it was easier for him to express himself using English sometimes.
We gave them our presents just before we left at around 9:30. They LOOOOOVED everything! Lots of "sugoi" all around. Jackie and I were all giggly. XD They gave us our okinomiyaki and we were on our way back to KIT.
Apparently, Hisae and Hiroshi met because they both used to skate board a lot. And Hiro heard about the program through his father since KIT had been asking lots of employees if they'd be willing to host people. Lucky us! They showed us to onsen places on the way back that would be good to go to.
And that was that! =D
6/27
Today, there was a little freak out in the morning since Sam, Susan, and Marie (who all had the same host family) never returned the night before. We eventually found out they were staying overnight. Luckies!! =D
Today I stayed in pretty much all day. It was boring.
I did got out later to Marue and then watched part of Akira with Derek since he'd never seen it before and that is just WRONG!
6/28
Today I got up at the wonderful hour of 10 am since class started an hour later than usual today. *_* At Rpro, we did a weird "rap" thing with a new tongue twister. I think I've learned 4 now. Then we went over how to talk about figures, graphs, and tables in Japanese. Then we did research on our project.
A scary thing happened. This one kid, the one with the bad attitude from before, came to sit next to me since we have similar topics and the teacher said we could all work together if we wanted. Well, I work alone. And I told him so. Anyway...later in the class he just crumpled his progress report (we have to fill out a project progress report every class) and tossed it on the floor. At the end of class, one of the teachers came over to ask us all for our papers. He didn't say anything and she asked him for it. And he said "Ja ne" which is really informal like "later" and she was like whaaaat? And she kept asking him for the paper, really nicely and asking if he was done. And he said that he was "done with Japan" and then walked away.... It was super tense and really scary. @_@;;;;
Lunch time I had my okinomiyaki leftovers and then went to the library to study for the next class. In language class today we had a quiz and learned how to write letters to people. And then we wrote a thank you letter to our host family. I hope they like mine. =x I also hope Jackie's and mine aren't too similar since we have exactly the same things to talk about. XD During one of the breaks, Suda-sensei showed us that, on the 11th floor of the library, it is girl's only!! You have to have a female ID to get in. And the whole floor is just for girls. It's open and beautiful. Very colorful, comfy chairs. Tables for studying, small rooms with internet, a printer, and TONS of magazines! The bathroom had purple carpet and the main part is just a huge long counter with TONS of three-section mirrors and stools for doing makeup. XD And it has three western style new fancy toilets. INSANITY!! This place was like a girls-only paradise. I can't wait to go back! lol But it's only open 8:30 to 10 at night.
I tried to go back later, but my ID didn't work. I haven't been able to print, either. I wonder if they're related? I let a teacher know so hopefully it will get taken care of.
I tried to go to manga club today, but they basically shooed me out. They have the school fair or whatevs coming up and most of the room was taken up by a large wooden thing they were painting. XD
I came back and finished Akira and have basically been bored and doing not much since then. Lazy day~
-Sara
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
6/20-6/23 and Back injury
6/20
Today Sam, Tiana, Sarah Sugarman, and myself went to downtown Kanazawa to do some shopping! Jackie was going to come with us, too, but she was feeling a bit sick so she stayed home. :( It was quite and adventure finding our way down there. Asked a few people for information about the taxi/train/bus and settled on the bus which ended up working perfectly. We got there and went straight to 109! We wandered the entire building which was full of clothes, accessories, and food! It was exciting and we even saw some real, live lolita! <3 In the basement there was a thrift store of 50's clothes and memorabilia. I bought an antique key that was made in Fitchburg, MA. XD
After 109 it was time to find Tatamachi dori, the fashion street that is said to have an anime shop. We wandered down the main street and I spent way too much money in a UFO catcher arcade where there was more lolita.
After asking a couple, we finally found Tatamachi dori and it was like another world where that world is a heaven of shopping and beautiful people. X3 We found the anime store and proceeded to freak out. It was not one, but TWO anime stores stuffed to the brim with figurines and all other sorts of anime memorabilia. My camera unfortunately died early into the trip, but there were so many things I wanted! LOVELY figurines. There was also an amazing BJD store up there. Very expensive, of course. The one anime shop had a crap ton of eva stuff. I am very happy to be here in the middle of the Eva revival. <3 There were bracelets (nice metal ones), shot glasses, pins (nice tack ones), cell phone stickers and covers, EVERYTHIIIING! There was also a wonderful Touhou corner with some figurines I've never seen before. <3 And a manga section full of screen tones, paper, pens, etc. And even costumes! I was definitely hyperventilating when I left the store. I saw an ad for an umbrella that looks like Saber's (Fate/Stay Night) sword! Right next to the anime shops was a crepe store. *_* And down stairs....it only got better. Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Angelic Pretty, Innocent World and even more that I don't remember!!!
It was amazing touching things I had only seen online before! Most shops did not allow touching though and all did not allow photographs. Signs everywhere that looked like no smoking signs but with cameras. Sarah Sugarman tried on a beautiful cream JSK from BTSSB and we even got Sam into an Alice and the Pirates aristocratic vest/coat. She loved it, btw. ;D Exciting!!
We wandered and headed to the bus just as it started pouring.
I made spaghetti for dinner and went to Jackie's to see how she was doing only to find her very sick. ;____;
6/21
Jackie was quite sick today as well.
Went to Communication class and it was much better than it has been. A lot of chit chat with the teacher. She's very nice and looooves roombas.
I came back for lunch and had pizza and talked to Teague which was wonderful <3 <3
We had no afternoon classes today which was very nice. I practised drawing in my sketch book and actually didn't do too bad. Then I went to manga club at around 4:30.
There, I showed them my sketches. The president told me that today I needed to start my page for their new doujin. I asked if I could use one of the better drawings I did (Reimu). He said yes and I proceeded to trace it twice. Once out of my sketch book, and second onto manga paper. It came out great. :D He said I would ink the next day and tone it Wednesday for the deadline Friday. Woooo!! Then I was pretty much ignored for the rest of the time which was nice because it means I'm "part of the club" now, I feel. I could do what I wanted.
I left around 7:30 and hung out with Jackie the rest of the night before going to bed, I think.
6/22
Jackie was still sick today T___T We're all worried. I think it was either today or yesterday she went to the actual hospital. T_T; They said she just had a cold, but she was miserable and I felt really bad.
I tried to print out my field notes in the morning and no matter what I tried it didn't work. >< Anger!!
In culture class, our sensei was hung over. It made the class a little boring. Most people fell asleep it seems. I was very tired, also.
At lunch I had katsudon which was a bad idea because the raw egg turned my stomach. :( After that, in JST, was talked about our fieldtrip the next day, had a quiz (AUGH I didn't study the kanji!), and did stuff with new vocab.
After class I went to manga club and inked my page. I used a "ji pen" which is a nib pen and a high tech (small ball point) pen to ink it. Lots of "waaah ii kanji desu ne" thrown around but it's probably cause I was trying really hard and a beginner. >_> Then I chatted with the president for a bit and showed him rhythm heaven which was hilarious. He left, then I left an hour later.
I got home and chilled out and blah blah blah. I did laundry and found moulin rouge (in english) on TV.
6/23
Today sucked. This morning I checked on Jackie and she was feeling much better but still not okay enough to go on the field trip which was to another college campus, a temple, and the origami museum.
After checking on her, I went to the metal stairs that was closest, not noticing that it had just rained and that they were soaked. I took one step and proceeded to slam down in the stairs, tail bone first and then slide down the metal stairs to the next platform. That pain ran up through my entire spine and in the moment I was terrified that I had broken part of my back. I struggled/writhed on the platform and just thought "Get on your back, lie down on your back." So I lied down on my back in a puddle and proceeded to writhe in pain, gripping unconsciously at the metal bars on the side of the stairwell. I remember being in a stupid amount of pain. It was hard to get out the groans that felt necessary to make. I worried about no one finding me since there was, of course, an all day field trip that involved everyone living in the apartments except for Jackie who was sick. I heard someone call up to me "What happened? Who are you? Are you okay?" I tried to answer best I could and was finally found by an unfamiliar Japanese looking face. She asked me what happened and how I was. I struggled not to cry and she helped me sit up then stand up.
At this point I was still in a lot of pain, but mostly better except for my tail bone and part of my left side. I felt I could still go on the field trip and I didn't wanna miss anything. So I went to my apartment to change while the sensei waited for me and exploded into tears. I didn't even know why, but it happened. I changed quickly, splashed water on my face, and took the elevator to the sensei's apartment. She got some pain killer and something she forgot. Now, I hurt just standing and told her I didn't think I could make it today, but just resting was probably best. She convinced me to go to the clinic, though, since it's free.
We met a lady from OIP and she was getting other students. We then met with Fudano, the head lady, and she was concerned but despite the fact that I was trying really hard not to cry again, I smiled and bowed painfully and seemed okay. I was dropped off into the hands of Kayo who took me to the clinic. There, I explained my problem and the nurse pushed on my back and asked if it hurt. It didn't, since it wasn't embarrassingly low enough to be on my tail bone. So she left and I heard her tell Kayo in Japanese that it wasn't anything. ><;;; I feel like everyone except the teacher who found me thinks I was faking to stay home with Jackie. Curse my pride!! The nurse put on a "cold pack" Which was a soft sticky cloth. They said it was cold and lasted 8 hours. Um... The second after she put it on, I didn't feel anything and have all but forgotten I even have it on. e_e
I told Kayo that if I hurt tomorrow I would go to the hospital for x-rays. I went to Jackie's then and cried some more while explaining what happened. We lied down most of the day and watched lots of Doctor Who. I made some spaghetti for myself and took a nap for a few hours. At 5, after everyone was back from the field trip, Jackie and I went to manga club so I could tone my page and she could watch. I explained what happened and that I couldn't stay long and they said I could go home and I could do it tomorrow.
Upon return we watched more Doctor Who. Know I'm in the lounge on my back and still in pain, but just less. It hurts to sit and it hurts to lie down right on my tail bone. *sigh*
-Sara
Today Sam, Tiana, Sarah Sugarman, and myself went to downtown Kanazawa to do some shopping! Jackie was going to come with us, too, but she was feeling a bit sick so she stayed home. :( It was quite and adventure finding our way down there. Asked a few people for information about the taxi/train/bus and settled on the bus which ended up working perfectly. We got there and went straight to 109! We wandered the entire building which was full of clothes, accessories, and food! It was exciting and we even saw some real, live lolita! <3 In the basement there was a thrift store of 50's clothes and memorabilia. I bought an antique key that was made in Fitchburg, MA. XD
After 109 it was time to find Tatamachi dori, the fashion street that is said to have an anime shop. We wandered down the main street and I spent way too much money in a UFO catcher arcade where there was more lolita.
After asking a couple, we finally found Tatamachi dori and it was like another world where that world is a heaven of shopping and beautiful people. X3 We found the anime store and proceeded to freak out. It was not one, but TWO anime stores stuffed to the brim with figurines and all other sorts of anime memorabilia. My camera unfortunately died early into the trip, but there were so many things I wanted! LOVELY figurines. There was also an amazing BJD store up there. Very expensive, of course. The one anime shop had a crap ton of eva stuff. I am very happy to be here in the middle of the Eva revival. <3 There were bracelets (nice metal ones), shot glasses, pins (nice tack ones), cell phone stickers and covers, EVERYTHIIIING! There was also a wonderful Touhou corner with some figurines I've never seen before. <3 And a manga section full of screen tones, paper, pens, etc. And even costumes! I was definitely hyperventilating when I left the store. I saw an ad for an umbrella that looks like Saber's (Fate/Stay Night) sword! Right next to the anime shops was a crepe store. *_* And down stairs....it only got better. Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Angelic Pretty, Innocent World and even more that I don't remember!!!
It was amazing touching things I had only seen online before! Most shops did not allow touching though and all did not allow photographs. Signs everywhere that looked like no smoking signs but with cameras. Sarah Sugarman tried on a beautiful cream JSK from BTSSB and we even got Sam into an Alice and the Pirates aristocratic vest/coat. She loved it, btw. ;D Exciting!!
We wandered and headed to the bus just as it started pouring.
I made spaghetti for dinner and went to Jackie's to see how she was doing only to find her very sick. ;____;
6/21
Jackie was quite sick today as well.
Went to Communication class and it was much better than it has been. A lot of chit chat with the teacher. She's very nice and looooves roombas.
I came back for lunch and had pizza and talked to Teague which was wonderful <3 <3
We had no afternoon classes today which was very nice. I practised drawing in my sketch book and actually didn't do too bad. Then I went to manga club at around 4:30.
There, I showed them my sketches. The president told me that today I needed to start my page for their new doujin. I asked if I could use one of the better drawings I did (Reimu). He said yes and I proceeded to trace it twice. Once out of my sketch book, and second onto manga paper. It came out great. :D He said I would ink the next day and tone it Wednesday for the deadline Friday. Woooo!! Then I was pretty much ignored for the rest of the time which was nice because it means I'm "part of the club" now, I feel. I could do what I wanted.
I left around 7:30 and hung out with Jackie the rest of the night before going to bed, I think.
6/22
Jackie was still sick today T___T We're all worried. I think it was either today or yesterday she went to the actual hospital. T_T; They said she just had a cold, but she was miserable and I felt really bad.
I tried to print out my field notes in the morning and no matter what I tried it didn't work. >< Anger!!
In culture class, our sensei was hung over. It made the class a little boring. Most people fell asleep it seems. I was very tired, also.
At lunch I had katsudon which was a bad idea because the raw egg turned my stomach. :( After that, in JST, was talked about our fieldtrip the next day, had a quiz (AUGH I didn't study the kanji!), and did stuff with new vocab.
After class I went to manga club and inked my page. I used a "ji pen" which is a nib pen and a high tech (small ball point) pen to ink it. Lots of "waaah ii kanji desu ne" thrown around but it's probably cause I was trying really hard and a beginner. >_> Then I chatted with the president for a bit and showed him rhythm heaven which was hilarious. He left, then I left an hour later.
I got home and chilled out and blah blah blah. I did laundry and found moulin rouge (in english) on TV.
6/23
Today sucked. This morning I checked on Jackie and she was feeling much better but still not okay enough to go on the field trip which was to another college campus, a temple, and the origami museum.
After checking on her, I went to the metal stairs that was closest, not noticing that it had just rained and that they were soaked. I took one step and proceeded to slam down in the stairs, tail bone first and then slide down the metal stairs to the next platform. That pain ran up through my entire spine and in the moment I was terrified that I had broken part of my back. I struggled/writhed on the platform and just thought "Get on your back, lie down on your back." So I lied down on my back in a puddle and proceeded to writhe in pain, gripping unconsciously at the metal bars on the side of the stairwell. I remember being in a stupid amount of pain. It was hard to get out the groans that felt necessary to make. I worried about no one finding me since there was, of course, an all day field trip that involved everyone living in the apartments except for Jackie who was sick. I heard someone call up to me "What happened? Who are you? Are you okay?" I tried to answer best I could and was finally found by an unfamiliar Japanese looking face. She asked me what happened and how I was. I struggled not to cry and she helped me sit up then stand up.
At this point I was still in a lot of pain, but mostly better except for my tail bone and part of my left side. I felt I could still go on the field trip and I didn't wanna miss anything. So I went to my apartment to change while the sensei waited for me and exploded into tears. I didn't even know why, but it happened. I changed quickly, splashed water on my face, and took the elevator to the sensei's apartment. She got some pain killer and something she forgot. Now, I hurt just standing and told her I didn't think I could make it today, but just resting was probably best. She convinced me to go to the clinic, though, since it's free.
We met a lady from OIP and she was getting other students. We then met with Fudano, the head lady, and she was concerned but despite the fact that I was trying really hard not to cry again, I smiled and bowed painfully and seemed okay. I was dropped off into the hands of Kayo who took me to the clinic. There, I explained my problem and the nurse pushed on my back and asked if it hurt. It didn't, since it wasn't embarrassingly low enough to be on my tail bone. So she left and I heard her tell Kayo in Japanese that it wasn't anything. ><;;; I feel like everyone except the teacher who found me thinks I was faking to stay home with Jackie. Curse my pride!! The nurse put on a "cold pack" Which was a soft sticky cloth. They said it was cold and lasted 8 hours. Um... The second after she put it on, I didn't feel anything and have all but forgotten I even have it on. e_e
I told Kayo that if I hurt tomorrow I would go to the hospital for x-rays. I went to Jackie's then and cried some more while explaining what happened. We lied down most of the day and watched lots of Doctor Who. I made some spaghetti for myself and took a nap for a few hours. At 5, after everyone was back from the field trip, Jackie and I went to manga club so I could tone my page and she could watch. I explained what happened and that I couldn't stay long and they said I could go home and I could do it tomorrow.
Upon return we watched more Doctor Who. Know I'm in the lounge on my back and still in pain, but just less. It hurts to sit and it hurts to lie down right on my tail bone. *sigh*
-Sara
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Pictures and Videos
My new youtube channel for Japan: http://www.youtube.com/user/chibisaraface
Lots of videos!
Here are my albums so far:
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3
Album 4
Enjoy!
Lots of videos!
Here are my albums so far:
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3
Album 4
Enjoy!
A long post of culture and class 6/12-6/19
6/12
Today we had our one on one discussions with the teachers about what classes we got into. I got into the star class!! This class is the highest level of the three classes. So proud of me. X3 I was told I had very good test results and did well on the oral test part. Yay! Then we got our school laptops! All of us went straight to the self study center and spent a few hours doing all the internet things we couldn't do since Monday. XD I had cold soba for lunch in the cafeteria after this. Then a few of us got onto the Notti bus and went to the center of town for shopping.
We went to a clothing store first which was full of more awesome sauce things than they have at an American clothing store. Then, we went to an electronics store where my head nearly exploded. All the cell phones were amazing! They even had toys here! One of the laptops was TINY! It made the EEE look huge! Next, we went to a shoe store and a gift store. The gift store was really an expensive store that was full of fun and interesting things. After, we walked to the flea market. This took a while because boys are stupid and can't read maps. But it was a nice walk, if quite hot, and we got to see a lot of country side and rice fields. One rice field had tons of tad poles. I saw my first Japanese school building (high school) on the way to the flea market. And a CUUUUTE doggy! At the flea market...it was PILED HIGH and made into very tight corridors. It had everything from antique tea sets, to kimono, to porn, to guitars, to refrigerators! Samurai helmets, old cameras, and even awards! After this we took the bus to the hyaku en store which I hadn't gone to yet. I scoured this amazing store for anything and everything I needed or wanted. There was a little Hello Kitty section! Everyone was much faster so I didn't get to go through the whole store but I spent like $13.
We walked back and went to the manga cafe for dinner. It wasn't a cafe so much as a restaurant with manga. I had omu pork don thing. It was....okay.... lots of fat. Meh. I read Doraemon while I was there but at this point I was in a REALLY REALLY bad mood because I was so tired and sore. I had a lot of trouble with the internet but finally figured it out and talked to Teague <3 and my parents. There is one kid here that plays Wow on his school laptop whenever he gets a chance. Wtf, man. Go out and explore Japan.
6/13
I got up early this day and was very tired. We all met up with the Japanese students which took a while. They split us up into two groups and our group took taxis to downtown Kanazawa for our fieldtrip.
We went to Kenrokuen which is a gorgeous park! I took SO MANY PICTURES!! I loved this place. There were tons of tourists and even women in kimono. There was a little island in the park too! I talked with the Japanese students a lot today and got more comfortable.
Then, we went to Kanazawajou, Kanazawa Castle. It was gorgeous, too, and everything was white. Lots of wide open spaces. Unfortunately, we just went through enclosures and never actually went INSIDE buildings. But I still loved it. Eee culture. There was a little boy there with shoes that squeaked when he walked. *_* There was also a boy scout with a gundam shirt on.
We went to the fish market, after the castle, and were set free for food! I've never been to an open market like this before so it was exciting. We got steak kabob and I got honey dango for dessert. Yuuuuum!! We checked out as many shops as possible! I got a little Hello Kitty hugging one of the main stone structures in Kenrokuen. ^^ Cute and culture! There was a Mister Donut in the market and everyone was excited for it. They had a ton of matcha flavored donuts. I chatted with even more students! At one point, they were making fun of Brian who had macha ice cream all over his face and it was very funny. It felt like a bonding moment. XD They gave me a chocolate filled taiyaki later which was sooo good! Then we took a bus and were gonna go to the art museum, but couldn't because of time. We passed a car on the way that had the lucky star characters on it! Eee! We also passed Kanazawa's 109 building and a Karaoke place. When we got back it was raining. The beginning of rainy season...
I had dinner at Champion Curry and it was hot, but still yummy. Maybe I'll try more curry from now on, though it still looks gross. >_>
6/14
Woke up for my first day of class! I checked my internet, did my homework and headed out. Hoshigumi (the third level class) it in Logos, the language lounge, and has comfy seats. Fujii sensei had us go over keigo, practice permissions and introductions, and us review a little bit of kanji. There were so many handouts this day!! In between, during the break, I grabbed a sandwich that I THINK may have had octopus. It was different.
Then Sam, Jackie, Wan-san, and Sakina-san and I went to Platz. I only got some snacks though. After lunch I made my new blog for communication/language class.
Then I went to Rpro. Research project class. We went over what the class would be like. We have to do a research project on a Japanese specific technology for conserving energy or saving the environment. I think they tacked this class on last minute cause now we have four classes... We moved to another room, got out our laptops, and research Eco House. This place seems kinda cool, but I'm not really thrilled about visiting it on the weekend. It seems like it's gonna be a lots work, since we're supposed to figure out our project topic based on the technology we see in the house. Then we had to write a progress report for the day which was dumb cause it was the first day and we didn't really do anything.
I went back home and napped. Because of this, I was late to meeting up for our first club experience. Woops! But I wasn't the only one. They gave us the list of clubs and we split into North and South campus. I was in North. Then we went as a group to find building 22 where most of the clubs were. I was cranky at this point and kinda pissed off that we were going as a group. The teacher didn't know where we were going and stopped a bunch of people on the way to figure it out. It was fairly embarrassing. Finally, we found the club rooms. A BUNCH of people decided they wanted to check out 漫画研究家 which is the manga research club. I was one. The room was small and full of stuff like in Genshiken. There were TONS of people there (for the room size) already which surprised me. It was awkward trying to stuff all the gaijin in. A bunch of people got right up to the table and were talking to the members. There was no room for me so I just stood behind everyone awkwardly... They all finally left to look at other clubs to make a decision on which to join (we have to join a club) but I already knew. I went right up to the one guy everyone was talking to and asked to join. He talked to the others and then said he couldn't make a decision since the club leader wasn't there. But then he called the club leader after I explained my situation and he said Okay! Yes I could join! *_* I was so excited. I sat and talked about what I liked. It's really hard to understand everyone there because they talk fast and super casually. And also use words and grammars I do not know. I read a lot of manga this day and was shown a bunch of the doujins they put out on there own. I also made a friend, the one female there at the time, Oda Mayumi. She LOOOVES Touhou, too, and works at the shop with tons of it nearby. She played through all of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil in front of/for me. *_* I left at around 7:30.
Then I went to dinner at Katsuya with Tiana and Jackie. After, I went to Marue (the grocery store) and got bread and soap. I came back and slept! I was so excited to find my little niche club. To be a part of the club, I have to come every day (Mon-Fri) and learn to draw. Eeee~
6/15
Woke up and had plain bread for breakfast. Then in our first culture class we talked about our "That's Japan" moments. Our teacher is very approachable and interesting. He's American and doesn't keep the wall that all the other sensei do because of that. It seems like it's going to be a fun class but a lot of work. I get to do a paper on the Japanese porn industry, though. ;D The room that the classroom is in is a music practice room, I think we were told. It doesn't have seats as much as a staircase like floor. It's all purple. The ceiling is covered in vertical mirrors to be pretty and reflect light but it scares me. I just imagine them falling and cutting us all into pieces!! ;_; I went to Sankyuu, a bread shop, for my lunch. OMG this place is AMAZING! I got a bread that had cheese, meat, and potato on it! I also got a thick waffle that was wrapped around cream and custard and was to die for! I can't wait to go back and get more pan!
In the afternoon we had JST. It was confusing which room we needed to go to. This class was pretty dumb. We spent the entire time "learning" how to type in Japanese which I, at least, already knew. We also spent a crap ton of time trying to install the printer driver which didn't go very well. It was kinda retarded. I felt really annoyed getting taught computer things by people who don't know anything about computers. I wish they had been more prepared. Oh well. We then all printed stuff and went off to the study center to print. One of the cool things about this is it seems we can send jobs from anywhere on campus and can only print them by signing in at the printer. Sweet! We also went over a bunch of basic computer terms like shut down, print, turn on, open (a file), etc. I hope we learn more of those words. Helpful! I went to the book store across the street to grab some folders. The paper here is slightly larger than in America and I really didn't think I'd be getting THIS many handouts! It's A LOT! I then went to my new club and was taught how to use the nib pen. At first, though, it was a bit awkward since I just sat and watched kids play Yugi Oh. Then Matsui san, the president, came over and introduced himself and taught me the pen. It was a bit embarrassing cause I don't draw well at all. ;_; It seems like I had to produce my first page for real in two weeks. And I'm not sure if this is correct, but I think he said my page would be in their next doujin since I'm going to be here long enough for it. Which is cooool. I guess they put one out every two months...or something. We talked about the things I like (video games, anime, manga) and they were all saying "You're Japanese!" as in, you like all the same things we do!! It was exciting. They seemed thrilled that I liked hellsing. XD After being there for quite a few hours I came back and went to dinner and dadadadada~
6/16
Woke up early as usual and did homework for my language class. In language class we went over humble words and then learned temple and shrine customs since we will be going to one on the weekend. Then we went over SUPER casual stuff. Like, dropping EVERYTHING in the sentences. I'm not used to speaking that way with ANYONE. It was hard! Then we went over the daily kanji and bloooo. I found a mah-jong key chain but I gave it to Derek since I do not play. At the cafeteria I had my first ramen in Japan. It was good, but a bit buttery/oily. After, I went to Marue to get groceries since I reaally needed some! I got pizza, oreos, pasta, pocky, pancake mix, eggs, tea, cheese, jam, and dumplings. Yumyum! I went home and napped for a bit before club.
At club, I did more practice of the nib pen and I was taught how to use screen tones! Yay! Now I can put the screen tones I have at home to good use, if I ever do manga... After I got there, a few other gaijin showed up and Matsui uprooted some nihonjin in the very crowded room to make space. Then more showed up. Then more. Then a ton. He was like "WAAAH!! DOUSHIYOU!!" I felt really embarrased cause the room was crowded even before I got there. The club is really popular. But in the end it was mostly me, Sam, and a few other guys that stayed. Sam is SO good at drawing O_O I felt bad cause I suck so bad. XD But it was fun to be there. I read a little manga, too, and talked a bit to the Nihonjin. I left around 8 with the other guys. Then I had my microwave pizza, did homework, and uploaded a crap ton of stuff! I also got to talk to Teague which was wonderfuuuul! <3 I went to bed really late!
6/17
Got up pretty early to finish my culture homework. In culture class, Ertl sensei talked about his life and career. Then we talked about the reading, Chrysanthemum and the Sword. Which was pretty boring. We also talked about the differences and similarities of America and Japan and what it means to be Japanese. After, lunch! I had ramen again. After, JST. We all got together and the Anamizu field trip was explained. Then we had the quiz which was super easy! We split up into our different levels and had separate class. We went to the comfy Logos room. This class was really hard. The teacher used a lot of words we didn't know, we learned knew vocab, AND new grammars. ><;; Difficult! She said at one point, in Japanese, "If you don't understand, it's okay to go to the easier class." She said it smiling and nicely, but you could tell she was pissed. I felt bad but it was hard!! After class we all got together in the self study room and griped about it. Everyone was really stressed out and thinking of going to the other class because it was scary and difficult.
I had to go to club at this point, but they went to talk to the teacher. I heard that, afterwards, the comment she made was targeting one person (she didn't say who) and that we were good students and she understood this stuff was hard for us. At club, I told them I couldn't stay long cause I had to meet my host family at 6. So Matsui san sat me down and taught me ACTION LINES! Then I drew a face and he corrected me. I read manga and was told to practice this weekend. I left soon after. I love the club because just being there makes me happy, if not always comfortable. It reminds me of my club back home. <3 <3 My people!!
I went to meet the host family. NERVOUS! Jackie and I were super lucky and got the same host family. Nakagawa. We were announced (like at a ball with mic and everything) and met the family. It was a young married couple. They were kinda hippieish and very cool. I LOVE THEM! They are ADORABLE! The woman loves fruit and the man LOOOVES America and American junk food. They are both very very nice. It seems like we're going to the ocean and swimming, going to a book store, and having seafood for dinner next weekend when we do the home visit. They are going to pick us up at 2 which seems a little late but we'll see. I'm so excited! I'm going to give them a picture book of new england and maple syrup, but I feel like I should be giving them so much more. Jackie and I decided to get a cake for them or so American snacks. Oh, the woman also wants to bring us to an onsen. *shiver shiver* I said yes, because...I can't just say no. ;_; But...uncomfortable!! Oh well...
After this Jackie and I went to White Canvas, the store with lots of Touhou and video games. I talked to Oda san for a bit and bought an adorable carved wooden key chain of Meiling. :3 Then I went to the book store and got a folder and a "sketch book." After, we tried to find others for food but couldn't. Jackie and I found a fantastic udon shop. It was a very nice atmosphere but was relatively cheap. The tempura wasn't very fresh though. After dinner, we went to GEO which is a HUUUUGE rental place. Manga, light novels, video games, CDs, DVDs. They had games for every system ever. I ran into Shakugan no Shana S which I haven't seen yet. I grabbed both DVDs and proceeded to find out how to rent there. I was lead through an application with a poor trainee employee. I felt bad. XD The only problem was I didn't have a phone number, but they used my American number. The card was free and I can use it a bunch of places! I got two DVDs for a week for 480 yen. Not bad, I think. Now I can rent whatever! Then we went to ANOTHER book store and I tried to find a dictionary to no avail. After that, we went to Baskin Robbins! Omg ice cream <3 I got three scoops! Chocolate, rocky road, and melon. They had SO MANY FLAVORS! One of them had POP ROCKS!! Then home and sleep for the early morning.
6/18
I woke up at 7:30 am which was a little bit late for the amount of stuff I had to do. I ate breakfast, looked up definitions, re-e-mailed the sensei my blog address, and made flash cards hasily. Oh! And I packed. Then I rushed over to building 1 where we were meeting. All us IJST folk got a bus to ourselves. I was worried cause I hadn't seen Jackie at all. ;_; But we got on the bus and it was nice and comfy. I played Pokemon and read a reading due Tuesday. Then we got to EcoHouse.
OMG THIS PLACE IS AMAZING! I want this house!! 45% of its energy is created by solar and wind energy. The roofs have solar panels and it has a wind mill thing that changes direction with the wind to get more. The roof also has solar powered water heating that's using in the house. The house is mostly covered with grey cedar to help deflect heat. There are plants planted that absorb 4x the amount of CO2 than other plants. And also trees that, in the summer, grow big and block the sun. Then in the winter they shed their leaves and let sun in. The house is light airtight insulated, too. Annnd the windows are double paned and the material holding them is resin instead of aluminum. The benches and pathways are all made out of recyclable materials. The rain water is collected on the ground in a basin that's connected to the hose for watering use! The inside of the house was very modern and lovely. It has an extremely flexible lighting system which allows many different parts of the house to be lit or not. They all use LEDs because they last long, take less energy, emit less heat, and don't attract bugs. The house also has a cute color energy monitor thing to see how much energy is being made and used. Also, if the house creates more energy than needed, they sell it to the energy company! The window are strategically placed for airflow. And the eaves of the roofs are longer than normal to block the high sun in the summer but let in the low sun in winter. And the living room has vaulted ceilings with high windows to let in natural light. There are automatic curtains for those. And the wall closest to the front door is made out of spongey rock and it absorbs water like CRAZY! We sprayed it and it was GONE! The house is made out local materials, too. And the living room is connected to the kitchen, but there is a cool sliding door that can be pulled across to separate the space (the house is designed for 3 generations). The door (looks like a rice paper door) has little "windows" that can be opened for air flow. All the sinks have wireless water. You press a remote from anywhere and the water goes. It was cool!! The bathtub is insulted and the bath that was drawn at 5 pm the previous day was till warm!! The water from that bath can be drained right into the laundry machine for use, too! The toilets are smart and open when you walk in the room. XD The ventilation thing above the stove purifies and recylces the air into the house. And also, the inner curtains of the windows have SILVER in them to help block the sun. I'm not sure how this works, but it's cool! Auuuugh just so many awesome thing about the house!! It cost $1 million, of course. But it's woooorth it. It was finished just a few months ago and it was created as a "model" for construction people to come, learn, and make more eco friendly houses. Japan is all about eco since it has no energy resources of its own.
Jackie got to eco house after we were there for a little bit. She was thankfully okay, she just had an awfully sore throat. After eco house, we stopped at a rest stop. I got takoyaki and ice cream. Yummy yum! There were tons of traditional sweets there. Then we headed to Nanao fisher man's warf. There we wandered for a bit. Everything was pretty but expensive. We got dinner at a very cool traditional looking restaurant and I had my first "Japanese" meal. Miso soup, steamed egg, tempura, rice, pickled daikon, potato salad, and sashimi! It was so good and only 1,000 yen! Mm mm! After this we quickly returned to the bus. Our next stop was the boat! We got onto this two deck boat that belongs to Kanazawa. It was so exciting. *_* We sailed around and island and got to the Anamizu seminar house.
We then had to walk up and excruciatingly steep road. x.x Once there, we greeted the staff went to the third floor for orientation. When I got up there, the one teacher at the door was saying something but I didn't hear. I was about to enter the room then she drags me, pulls me back, and pushes me down to bow. Apparently the room is like this "sacred place of learning." I hadn't been touched the much by a Japanese person before. It felt a little extreme. Anyway, she learned about the layout and the emergency exits. And the beds. e_e There is like this special way to make our beds and then how to fold everything up after we leave. They were like "Ask the Japanese students!" All the guys got Japanese students in their room, but only ONE female Japanese came. And we have lots of girls. So all the ryuugakusei girls were spread out over three rooms with ONE Japanese girl. It didn't feel fair. She was not in my room, btw, but I got awesome people in my room. Theeen we had three hours of free time. I napped.
Then the Japanese people arrived and we went down to the bay for barbecue!! There was SO much food there!! Exciting! And lots of people! I had a fresh scallop (it was still in its shell when we cooked it), a little sausage, some meat, corn, a rice ball, apple juice, and pumpkin. There were lots of people but they were all busy talking or cooking or eating so I didn't really talk to anyone most of the time. Creepy Japanese boy did try to chat me up and was like "You should come to the self study center lots!" And I was like "eehhh suuuuuure~" >_> I talked a bit to the culture teacher and figured out why he's so apt to introduce alcohol to our parties (apparently it loosens the Japanese up) and learned about different uses of katakana. He is an interesting guy. And 35 I found out. He's been in Japan since 95 he said. WOW =0 Yeah can't think of much that happened there. We walked back up which was TERRIBLE!!! Not only was it super steep but it was PITCH BLACK!!!!! T_____T
In any case, we got back up and everyone rushed to the baths. It was a shared bath like you would see in Ranma 1/2. The girls bath was much smaller than the guys, though. There was a room with cubbyholes and baskets for clothes then you got through the glazed doors and on the right there was an area for washing and the furo was on the left. I didn't use it at all, though. I just played Pokemon and slept cause it was around 9:30 or 10 at this point. I hear most people were up late, though.
6/19
Today, at the Anamizu seminar house, I woke up at 6 am to the sound of music playing over the PA. Then at 6:30 they played Pachabel's cannon in D. I was like "Curse you, pachabellll!!!" I got dressed and went to the gym for the morning gathering thing. I was the only girl there at first. The one guy put me in line according to my room number. Then everyone got there. You could tell the guy who runs the house was so super into his country. He sang the national anthem to music to the Japanese flag as the flag was raised. It made me giggle. Then, we did Japanese morning stretches. o_O It was so weird. They were weird stretches set to music and it made me laugh a lot. The one guy was really into it. But some of the Japanese students didn't even know what they were doing!
After that we had to put our bed back EXACTLY AS WE FOUND THEM! That means folding the four blankets they gave us PERFECTLY and placing them at a certain point of the bed with the labels facing a certain way. Super insane. We went to breakfast then and I brought my DS with me cause I was playing Pokemon. XD We had corn soup, salad, two small pieces of meat, a hard boiled egg, tea, two slices of bread, and some fruit with whipped cream. It was okay. After breakfast we had a half hour to rest before a lecture. I played more pokemon!
Then to the lecture which was more like an activity. Our American culture teacher started by attempting to get the Japanese students to pronounce his last name (Ertl). Hahhahaa. Then he brought up families and family trees. He then posed "Where do Japanese people come from?" Then he had us get into groups of four and interview each other on our family trees. Then we had to ask the Japanese where they think Japanese people come from. Most were unsure about answering. Then Ertl sensei told us about on of the kojiki (creation myths of Japan). He told us about Izanagi and Izanami. He said they were created by God out of Chaos. And that Izanagi poked Chaos with a spear and that created an island. It's a small island by Japan. Then they were on the island and walked around a pillar or whatever and had children (the main islands of Japan). But then Izanami gave birth to fire and died. So Izanagi went to visit Izanami in the land of the dead cause he could. She said "Nooo don't look at me!" And he said "I must!" But she was all ugly and stuff and he freaked. She said "You've seen me so now I will KILL YOU!!" He of course ran and she sent monsters after him. He put a rock in front of the entrance of the underworld. Izanami said then that since she was so angry, she would kill 1000 people every day. So Izanagi said he would birth 1500 people every day. Theeen...he like took a bath to get all the death off him. And he melted into a bunch of other Kami that went off and had adventures. Weiiird story. But we talked about how we had science and evolution and then creation myths and that they both involve a level of trust. And stuuuuff.
After the lecture I went back to my room and played more Pokemon! Incidentally, Whitney was a bitch to beat. Then lunch! Curry and salad. Meh. Theeeen we packed up and left in the busses. Jackie and I went together. It was off to the shrine with us! We got to the shrine and it was more like a bunch of shrines with one main one. There was a miko at the main one and she was lovely. *_* I took lots of pictures and videos. I got a fortune and it was the highest of good fortunes!! I still need to translate it, but the Japanese told me it was awesome! Then I prayed at the main shrine and bought charms for me and my family. I visited all the little shrines and it was just lovely and it felt sacred. <3 We got back on the bus after an hour and drove back to school. I had a "That's Japan moment" then. I saw a woman standing outside a hair salon bow to a car pulling out. Then she stayed, watched the car drive away, and bowed again. Then she went inside. So nice to customers!! "Customers are king" is the saying here. Now I just got back and I'm writing.
Today we had our one on one discussions with the teachers about what classes we got into. I got into the star class!! This class is the highest level of the three classes. So proud of me. X3 I was told I had very good test results and did well on the oral test part. Yay! Then we got our school laptops! All of us went straight to the self study center and spent a few hours doing all the internet things we couldn't do since Monday. XD I had cold soba for lunch in the cafeteria after this. Then a few of us got onto the Notti bus and went to the center of town for shopping.
We went to a clothing store first which was full of more awesome sauce things than they have at an American clothing store. Then, we went to an electronics store where my head nearly exploded. All the cell phones were amazing! They even had toys here! One of the laptops was TINY! It made the EEE look huge! Next, we went to a shoe store and a gift store. The gift store was really an expensive store that was full of fun and interesting things. After, we walked to the flea market. This took a while because boys are stupid and can't read maps. But it was a nice walk, if quite hot, and we got to see a lot of country side and rice fields. One rice field had tons of tad poles. I saw my first Japanese school building (high school) on the way to the flea market. And a CUUUUTE doggy! At the flea market...it was PILED HIGH and made into very tight corridors. It had everything from antique tea sets, to kimono, to porn, to guitars, to refrigerators! Samurai helmets, old cameras, and even awards! After this we took the bus to the hyaku en store which I hadn't gone to yet. I scoured this amazing store for anything and everything I needed or wanted. There was a little Hello Kitty section! Everyone was much faster so I didn't get to go through the whole store but I spent like $13.
We walked back and went to the manga cafe for dinner. It wasn't a cafe so much as a restaurant with manga. I had omu pork don thing. It was....okay.... lots of fat. Meh. I read Doraemon while I was there but at this point I was in a REALLY REALLY bad mood because I was so tired and sore. I had a lot of trouble with the internet but finally figured it out and talked to Teague <3 and my parents. There is one kid here that plays Wow on his school laptop whenever he gets a chance. Wtf, man. Go out and explore Japan.
6/13
I got up early this day and was very tired. We all met up with the Japanese students which took a while. They split us up into two groups and our group took taxis to downtown Kanazawa for our fieldtrip.
We went to Kenrokuen which is a gorgeous park! I took SO MANY PICTURES!! I loved this place. There were tons of tourists and even women in kimono. There was a little island in the park too! I talked with the Japanese students a lot today and got more comfortable.
Then, we went to Kanazawajou, Kanazawa Castle. It was gorgeous, too, and everything was white. Lots of wide open spaces. Unfortunately, we just went through enclosures and never actually went INSIDE buildings. But I still loved it. Eee culture. There was a little boy there with shoes that squeaked when he walked. *_* There was also a boy scout with a gundam shirt on.
We went to the fish market, after the castle, and were set free for food! I've never been to an open market like this before so it was exciting. We got steak kabob and I got honey dango for dessert. Yuuuuum!! We checked out as many shops as possible! I got a little Hello Kitty hugging one of the main stone structures in Kenrokuen. ^^ Cute and culture! There was a Mister Donut in the market and everyone was excited for it. They had a ton of matcha flavored donuts. I chatted with even more students! At one point, they were making fun of Brian who had macha ice cream all over his face and it was very funny. It felt like a bonding moment. XD They gave me a chocolate filled taiyaki later which was sooo good! Then we took a bus and were gonna go to the art museum, but couldn't because of time. We passed a car on the way that had the lucky star characters on it! Eee! We also passed Kanazawa's 109 building and a Karaoke place. When we got back it was raining. The beginning of rainy season...
I had dinner at Champion Curry and it was hot, but still yummy. Maybe I'll try more curry from now on, though it still looks gross. >_>
6/14
Woke up for my first day of class! I checked my internet, did my homework and headed out. Hoshigumi (the third level class) it in Logos, the language lounge, and has comfy seats. Fujii sensei had us go over keigo, practice permissions and introductions, and us review a little bit of kanji. There were so many handouts this day!! In between, during the break, I grabbed a sandwich that I THINK may have had octopus. It was different.
Then Sam, Jackie, Wan-san, and Sakina-san and I went to Platz. I only got some snacks though. After lunch I made my new blog for communication/language class.
Then I went to Rpro. Research project class. We went over what the class would be like. We have to do a research project on a Japanese specific technology for conserving energy or saving the environment. I think they tacked this class on last minute cause now we have four classes... We moved to another room, got out our laptops, and research Eco House. This place seems kinda cool, but I'm not really thrilled about visiting it on the weekend. It seems like it's gonna be a lots work, since we're supposed to figure out our project topic based on the technology we see in the house. Then we had to write a progress report for the day which was dumb cause it was the first day and we didn't really do anything.
I went back home and napped. Because of this, I was late to meeting up for our first club experience. Woops! But I wasn't the only one. They gave us the list of clubs and we split into North and South campus. I was in North. Then we went as a group to find building 22 where most of the clubs were. I was cranky at this point and kinda pissed off that we were going as a group. The teacher didn't know where we were going and stopped a bunch of people on the way to figure it out. It was fairly embarrassing. Finally, we found the club rooms. A BUNCH of people decided they wanted to check out 漫画研究家 which is the manga research club. I was one. The room was small and full of stuff like in Genshiken. There were TONS of people there (for the room size) already which surprised me. It was awkward trying to stuff all the gaijin in. A bunch of people got right up to the table and were talking to the members. There was no room for me so I just stood behind everyone awkwardly... They all finally left to look at other clubs to make a decision on which to join (we have to join a club) but I already knew. I went right up to the one guy everyone was talking to and asked to join. He talked to the others and then said he couldn't make a decision since the club leader wasn't there. But then he called the club leader after I explained my situation and he said Okay! Yes I could join! *_* I was so excited. I sat and talked about what I liked. It's really hard to understand everyone there because they talk fast and super casually. And also use words and grammars I do not know. I read a lot of manga this day and was shown a bunch of the doujins they put out on there own. I also made a friend, the one female there at the time, Oda Mayumi. She LOOOVES Touhou, too, and works at the shop with tons of it nearby. She played through all of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil in front of/for me. *_* I left at around 7:30.
Then I went to dinner at Katsuya with Tiana and Jackie. After, I went to Marue (the grocery store) and got bread and soap. I came back and slept! I was so excited to find my little niche club. To be a part of the club, I have to come every day (Mon-Fri) and learn to draw. Eeee~
6/15
Woke up and had plain bread for breakfast. Then in our first culture class we talked about our "That's Japan" moments. Our teacher is very approachable and interesting. He's American and doesn't keep the wall that all the other sensei do because of that. It seems like it's going to be a fun class but a lot of work. I get to do a paper on the Japanese porn industry, though. ;D The room that the classroom is in is a music practice room, I think we were told. It doesn't have seats as much as a staircase like floor. It's all purple. The ceiling is covered in vertical mirrors to be pretty and reflect light but it scares me. I just imagine them falling and cutting us all into pieces!! ;_; I went to Sankyuu, a bread shop, for my lunch. OMG this place is AMAZING! I got a bread that had cheese, meat, and potato on it! I also got a thick waffle that was wrapped around cream and custard and was to die for! I can't wait to go back and get more pan!
In the afternoon we had JST. It was confusing which room we needed to go to. This class was pretty dumb. We spent the entire time "learning" how to type in Japanese which I, at least, already knew. We also spent a crap ton of time trying to install the printer driver which didn't go very well. It was kinda retarded. I felt really annoyed getting taught computer things by people who don't know anything about computers. I wish they had been more prepared. Oh well. We then all printed stuff and went off to the study center to print. One of the cool things about this is it seems we can send jobs from anywhere on campus and can only print them by signing in at the printer. Sweet! We also went over a bunch of basic computer terms like shut down, print, turn on, open (a file), etc. I hope we learn more of those words. Helpful! I went to the book store across the street to grab some folders. The paper here is slightly larger than in America and I really didn't think I'd be getting THIS many handouts! It's A LOT! I then went to my new club and was taught how to use the nib pen. At first, though, it was a bit awkward since I just sat and watched kids play Yugi Oh. Then Matsui san, the president, came over and introduced himself and taught me the pen. It was a bit embarrassing cause I don't draw well at all. ;_; It seems like I had to produce my first page for real in two weeks. And I'm not sure if this is correct, but I think he said my page would be in their next doujin since I'm going to be here long enough for it. Which is cooool. I guess they put one out every two months...or something. We talked about the things I like (video games, anime, manga) and they were all saying "You're Japanese!" as in, you like all the same things we do!! It was exciting. They seemed thrilled that I liked hellsing. XD After being there for quite a few hours I came back and went to dinner and dadadadada~
6/16
Woke up early as usual and did homework for my language class. In language class we went over humble words and then learned temple and shrine customs since we will be going to one on the weekend. Then we went over SUPER casual stuff. Like, dropping EVERYTHING in the sentences. I'm not used to speaking that way with ANYONE. It was hard! Then we went over the daily kanji and bloooo. I found a mah-jong key chain but I gave it to Derek since I do not play. At the cafeteria I had my first ramen in Japan. It was good, but a bit buttery/oily. After, I went to Marue to get groceries since I reaally needed some! I got pizza, oreos, pasta, pocky, pancake mix, eggs, tea, cheese, jam, and dumplings. Yumyum! I went home and napped for a bit before club.
At club, I did more practice of the nib pen and I was taught how to use screen tones! Yay! Now I can put the screen tones I have at home to good use, if I ever do manga... After I got there, a few other gaijin showed up and Matsui uprooted some nihonjin in the very crowded room to make space. Then more showed up. Then more. Then a ton. He was like "WAAAH!! DOUSHIYOU!!" I felt really embarrased cause the room was crowded even before I got there. The club is really popular. But in the end it was mostly me, Sam, and a few other guys that stayed. Sam is SO good at drawing O_O I felt bad cause I suck so bad. XD But it was fun to be there. I read a little manga, too, and talked a bit to the Nihonjin. I left around 8 with the other guys. Then I had my microwave pizza, did homework, and uploaded a crap ton of stuff! I also got to talk to Teague which was wonderfuuuul! <3 I went to bed really late!
6/17
Got up pretty early to finish my culture homework. In culture class, Ertl sensei talked about his life and career. Then we talked about the reading, Chrysanthemum and the Sword. Which was pretty boring. We also talked about the differences and similarities of America and Japan and what it means to be Japanese. After, lunch! I had ramen again. After, JST. We all got together and the Anamizu field trip was explained. Then we had the quiz which was super easy! We split up into our different levels and had separate class. We went to the comfy Logos room. This class was really hard. The teacher used a lot of words we didn't know, we learned knew vocab, AND new grammars. ><;; Difficult! She said at one point, in Japanese, "If you don't understand, it's okay to go to the easier class." She said it smiling and nicely, but you could tell she was pissed. I felt bad but it was hard!! After class we all got together in the self study room and griped about it. Everyone was really stressed out and thinking of going to the other class because it was scary and difficult.
I had to go to club at this point, but they went to talk to the teacher. I heard that, afterwards, the comment she made was targeting one person (she didn't say who) and that we were good students and she understood this stuff was hard for us. At club, I told them I couldn't stay long cause I had to meet my host family at 6. So Matsui san sat me down and taught me ACTION LINES! Then I drew a face and he corrected me. I read manga and was told to practice this weekend. I left soon after. I love the club because just being there makes me happy, if not always comfortable. It reminds me of my club back home. <3 <3 My people!!
I went to meet the host family. NERVOUS! Jackie and I were super lucky and got the same host family. Nakagawa. We were announced (like at a ball with mic and everything) and met the family. It was a young married couple. They were kinda hippieish and very cool. I LOVE THEM! They are ADORABLE! The woman loves fruit and the man LOOOVES America and American junk food. They are both very very nice. It seems like we're going to the ocean and swimming, going to a book store, and having seafood for dinner next weekend when we do the home visit. They are going to pick us up at 2 which seems a little late but we'll see. I'm so excited! I'm going to give them a picture book of new england and maple syrup, but I feel like I should be giving them so much more. Jackie and I decided to get a cake for them or so American snacks. Oh, the woman also wants to bring us to an onsen. *shiver shiver* I said yes, because...I can't just say no. ;_; But...uncomfortable!! Oh well...
After this Jackie and I went to White Canvas, the store with lots of Touhou and video games. I talked to Oda san for a bit and bought an adorable carved wooden key chain of Meiling. :3 Then I went to the book store and got a folder and a "sketch book." After, we tried to find others for food but couldn't. Jackie and I found a fantastic udon shop. It was a very nice atmosphere but was relatively cheap. The tempura wasn't very fresh though. After dinner, we went to GEO which is a HUUUUGE rental place. Manga, light novels, video games, CDs, DVDs. They had games for every system ever. I ran into Shakugan no Shana S which I haven't seen yet. I grabbed both DVDs and proceeded to find out how to rent there. I was lead through an application with a poor trainee employee. I felt bad. XD The only problem was I didn't have a phone number, but they used my American number. The card was free and I can use it a bunch of places! I got two DVDs for a week for 480 yen. Not bad, I think. Now I can rent whatever! Then we went to ANOTHER book store and I tried to find a dictionary to no avail. After that, we went to Baskin Robbins! Omg ice cream <3 I got three scoops! Chocolate, rocky road, and melon. They had SO MANY FLAVORS! One of them had POP ROCKS!! Then home and sleep for the early morning.
6/18
I woke up at 7:30 am which was a little bit late for the amount of stuff I had to do. I ate breakfast, looked up definitions, re-e-mailed the sensei my blog address, and made flash cards hasily. Oh! And I packed. Then I rushed over to building 1 where we were meeting. All us IJST folk got a bus to ourselves. I was worried cause I hadn't seen Jackie at all. ;_; But we got on the bus and it was nice and comfy. I played Pokemon and read a reading due Tuesday. Then we got to EcoHouse.
OMG THIS PLACE IS AMAZING! I want this house!! 45% of its energy is created by solar and wind energy. The roofs have solar panels and it has a wind mill thing that changes direction with the wind to get more. The roof also has solar powered water heating that's using in the house. The house is mostly covered with grey cedar to help deflect heat. There are plants planted that absorb 4x the amount of CO2 than other plants. And also trees that, in the summer, grow big and block the sun. Then in the winter they shed their leaves and let sun in. The house is light airtight insulated, too. Annnd the windows are double paned and the material holding them is resin instead of aluminum. The benches and pathways are all made out of recyclable materials. The rain water is collected on the ground in a basin that's connected to the hose for watering use! The inside of the house was very modern and lovely. It has an extremely flexible lighting system which allows many different parts of the house to be lit or not. They all use LEDs because they last long, take less energy, emit less heat, and don't attract bugs. The house also has a cute color energy monitor thing to see how much energy is being made and used. Also, if the house creates more energy than needed, they sell it to the energy company! The window are strategically placed for airflow. And the eaves of the roofs are longer than normal to block the high sun in the summer but let in the low sun in winter. And the living room has vaulted ceilings with high windows to let in natural light. There are automatic curtains for those. And the wall closest to the front door is made out of spongey rock and it absorbs water like CRAZY! We sprayed it and it was GONE! The house is made out local materials, too. And the living room is connected to the kitchen, but there is a cool sliding door that can be pulled across to separate the space (the house is designed for 3 generations). The door (looks like a rice paper door) has little "windows" that can be opened for air flow. All the sinks have wireless water. You press a remote from anywhere and the water goes. It was cool!! The bathtub is insulted and the bath that was drawn at 5 pm the previous day was till warm!! The water from that bath can be drained right into the laundry machine for use, too! The toilets are smart and open when you walk in the room. XD The ventilation thing above the stove purifies and recylces the air into the house. And also, the inner curtains of the windows have SILVER in them to help block the sun. I'm not sure how this works, but it's cool! Auuuugh just so many awesome thing about the house!! It cost $1 million, of course. But it's woooorth it. It was finished just a few months ago and it was created as a "model" for construction people to come, learn, and make more eco friendly houses. Japan is all about eco since it has no energy resources of its own.
Jackie got to eco house after we were there for a little bit. She was thankfully okay, she just had an awfully sore throat. After eco house, we stopped at a rest stop. I got takoyaki and ice cream. Yummy yum! There were tons of traditional sweets there. Then we headed to Nanao fisher man's warf. There we wandered for a bit. Everything was pretty but expensive. We got dinner at a very cool traditional looking restaurant and I had my first "Japanese" meal. Miso soup, steamed egg, tempura, rice, pickled daikon, potato salad, and sashimi! It was so good and only 1,000 yen! Mm mm! After this we quickly returned to the bus. Our next stop was the boat! We got onto this two deck boat that belongs to Kanazawa. It was so exciting. *_* We sailed around and island and got to the Anamizu seminar house.
We then had to walk up and excruciatingly steep road. x.x Once there, we greeted the staff went to the third floor for orientation. When I got up there, the one teacher at the door was saying something but I didn't hear. I was about to enter the room then she drags me, pulls me back, and pushes me down to bow. Apparently the room is like this "sacred place of learning." I hadn't been touched the much by a Japanese person before. It felt a little extreme. Anyway, she learned about the layout and the emergency exits. And the beds. e_e There is like this special way to make our beds and then how to fold everything up after we leave. They were like "Ask the Japanese students!" All the guys got Japanese students in their room, but only ONE female Japanese came. And we have lots of girls. So all the ryuugakusei girls were spread out over three rooms with ONE Japanese girl. It didn't feel fair. She was not in my room, btw, but I got awesome people in my room. Theeen we had three hours of free time. I napped.
Then the Japanese people arrived and we went down to the bay for barbecue!! There was SO much food there!! Exciting! And lots of people! I had a fresh scallop (it was still in its shell when we cooked it), a little sausage, some meat, corn, a rice ball, apple juice, and pumpkin. There were lots of people but they were all busy talking or cooking or eating so I didn't really talk to anyone most of the time. Creepy Japanese boy did try to chat me up and was like "You should come to the self study center lots!" And I was like "eehhh suuuuuure~" >_> I talked a bit to the culture teacher and figured out why he's so apt to introduce alcohol to our parties (apparently it loosens the Japanese up) and learned about different uses of katakana. He is an interesting guy. And 35 I found out. He's been in Japan since 95 he said. WOW =0 Yeah can't think of much that happened there. We walked back up which was TERRIBLE!!! Not only was it super steep but it was PITCH BLACK!!!!! T_____T
In any case, we got back up and everyone rushed to the baths. It was a shared bath like you would see in Ranma 1/2. The girls bath was much smaller than the guys, though. There was a room with cubbyholes and baskets for clothes then you got through the glazed doors and on the right there was an area for washing and the furo was on the left. I didn't use it at all, though. I just played Pokemon and slept cause it was around 9:30 or 10 at this point. I hear most people were up late, though.
6/19
Today, at the Anamizu seminar house, I woke up at 6 am to the sound of music playing over the PA. Then at 6:30 they played Pachabel's cannon in D. I was like "Curse you, pachabellll!!!" I got dressed and went to the gym for the morning gathering thing. I was the only girl there at first. The one guy put me in line according to my room number. Then everyone got there. You could tell the guy who runs the house was so super into his country. He sang the national anthem to music to the Japanese flag as the flag was raised. It made me giggle. Then, we did Japanese morning stretches. o_O It was so weird. They were weird stretches set to music and it made me laugh a lot. The one guy was really into it. But some of the Japanese students didn't even know what they were doing!
After that we had to put our bed back EXACTLY AS WE FOUND THEM! That means folding the four blankets they gave us PERFECTLY and placing them at a certain point of the bed with the labels facing a certain way. Super insane. We went to breakfast then and I brought my DS with me cause I was playing Pokemon. XD We had corn soup, salad, two small pieces of meat, a hard boiled egg, tea, two slices of bread, and some fruit with whipped cream. It was okay. After breakfast we had a half hour to rest before a lecture. I played more pokemon!
Then to the lecture which was more like an activity. Our American culture teacher started by attempting to get the Japanese students to pronounce his last name (Ertl). Hahhahaa. Then he brought up families and family trees. He then posed "Where do Japanese people come from?" Then he had us get into groups of four and interview each other on our family trees. Then we had to ask the Japanese where they think Japanese people come from. Most were unsure about answering. Then Ertl sensei told us about on of the kojiki (creation myths of Japan). He told us about Izanagi and Izanami. He said they were created by God out of Chaos. And that Izanagi poked Chaos with a spear and that created an island. It's a small island by Japan. Then they were on the island and walked around a pillar or whatever and had children (the main islands of Japan). But then Izanami gave birth to fire and died. So Izanagi went to visit Izanami in the land of the dead cause he could. She said "Nooo don't look at me!" And he said "I must!" But she was all ugly and stuff and he freaked. She said "You've seen me so now I will KILL YOU!!" He of course ran and she sent monsters after him. He put a rock in front of the entrance of the underworld. Izanami said then that since she was so angry, she would kill 1000 people every day. So Izanagi said he would birth 1500 people every day. Theeen...he like took a bath to get all the death off him. And he melted into a bunch of other Kami that went off and had adventures. Weiiird story. But we talked about how we had science and evolution and then creation myths and that they both involve a level of trust. And stuuuuff.
After the lecture I went back to my room and played more Pokemon! Incidentally, Whitney was a bitch to beat. Then lunch! Curry and salad. Meh. Theeeen we packed up and left in the busses. Jackie and I went together. It was off to the shrine with us! We got to the shrine and it was more like a bunch of shrines with one main one. There was a miko at the main one and she was lovely. *_* I took lots of pictures and videos. I got a fortune and it was the highest of good fortunes!! I still need to translate it, but the Japanese told me it was awesome! Then I prayed at the main shrine and bought charms for me and my family. I visited all the little shrines and it was just lovely and it felt sacred. <3 We got back on the bus after an hour and drove back to school. I had a "That's Japan moment" then. I saw a woman standing outside a hair salon bow to a car pulling out. Then she stayed, watched the car drive away, and bowed again. Then she went inside. So nice to customers!! "Customers are king" is the saying here. Now I just got back and I'm writing.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Protip
MAC address spoofing is super easy. Don't use MAC filtering to protect your network. *waggles finger*
-Sara
-Sara
Post 1! 5 days in Japan.
Well hello there, eager readers. I've made it to Japan safe and sound! Now here's a crazy detailed rundown of the things I've been doing:
The night before I left for Japan I did not really sleep much because I was packing and trying to figure things out. I had to get up and leave at 7 for my flight at 9 am. Bleh!! It feels like all my time went too fast! *sigh* So I played Pokemon like my whole flight to Detroit from Manchester. Then, at Detroit during my 4 hour layover, I watched the new Dr. Who and played World of Goo. I then talked to my parents who told me my chances of getting on the flight were slim to none. Jackie showed up and we hung out and chatted. Then she got on the plane with everyone else and I waited to find out that the flight was, of course, completely full. :(
The lady sends me to the flight going to Nagoya which was right at the next gate! Lucky! I got on easy and I got first class. First order of business was champagne! Yum. We got a lot of meals and I watched Young Victoria, studied, and tried to sleep a bit.
I knew my bags were going to Narita without me and I was really stressed about entering the country and getting to Tokyo on my own. But when I deplaned, the three english-speaking Japanese ladies at the baggage claim helped me fill out some forms to have th bags shipped from Narita to me.
Then I had to figure out the time table for the Nagoya Airport to Nagoya City train and buy a ticket. Then I took that train to Nagoya city which was like 40 minutes. There was a guy reading shounen jump hehe and a school girl. I got off in Nagoya and then and bought a Shinkansen ticket. But she didn't tell me what platform so I wandered lost for a bit and then broke down and asked someone in Japanese where the train was. Platform 15. Then I didnt even know which train to take!
By the time I realized what I needed, I had already missed the train on my ticket by a half hour! And it was already 8:10 and the train is like 2 hours and I needed to be in Shinjuku by 10:20!!! Ugh!
So I asked a man who helped me figure out which train to get on. So I rode the Shinkansen between a business man and a cool woman. I was too nervous to even play pokemon cause I didn't know if I needed to get off at Shinagawa or Tokyo. So I broke down and I asked the business man in Japanese and he said it didn't matter, but Shinagawa was better. (I rode Nozomi, btw. They name their Shinkansen).
So I got off at Shinagawa, walked around lost for a minute or two before asking a guard guy how to get to Shinjuku. Then I got on the train to Shinjuku and proceeded to freak out as the time ticked down. At 10:10 I got to Shinjuku and ran/stumbled in my high heels, which hurt so bad at this point, to the building by the station I needed to be at at 10:20. I wanted to cry! I was just praying "don't let me miss the bus. I will have not only wasted over $100 on the shinkansen ticket when I could have gone straight to Kanazawa, but I'd have to find a place to stay at that late in tokyo (expensive)"
But I got there and everyone was waiting saying we were all way early. They gave me granola bars and fruit by the foot which I gobbled down since I hadn't eaten for almost 6 hours. Then we waited around and chatted till we got onto the bus. It was a large bus that had 10 or so rows of these odd seats. The reclined a bit but were rather small and uncomfortable over all. But they had little bubble shades for sleeping and blankets. And all the windows were covered in black cloth so we could sleep since it was an overnight bus. I think I napped a little bit, but didn't sleep much.
We got into Kanazawa train station at around 7 am and had no idea which bus or where to go to get to said bus to get to KIT. We wandered and used the restroom and tried to make out maps. We finally found a bus driver who took us to the right place and showed us exactly what we needed. So we waited and took our bus to right across the street from the school. My feet hurt so bad. We walked to the front and Kayo and two other ladies greeted us, gave us packets of stuff, and walked us to the apartment building. Then we were free to do whatever.
I luckily borrowed some of Jackie's shoes which were a goddamned lifesaver. I'm on the fourth floor of Nishikawa Heights and for some reason I have the apartment all to myself (the packet included a map of who is living where). So I have three bedrooms to MYSELF. I unpacked my little amount of stuff in my room and tried to take a shower, but I couldn't figure out the hot water. I had no toilet paper either. ;_;
Then I looked through the packet, visited Sarah and Jackie who live right near me, then all 11 of us (2 of the 13 in our group did not take the night bus) went out to find food. But it was still early at 10 am. Nothing opens till 11 except for convenience stores. So we went to a コンビニ and I got an onigiri, tea, and a melon bread. The onigiri was SOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!!!!! Much better than what I make.
We walked around a lot and found a LARGE コンビニ which just had..it had EVERYTHING. So I grabbed strawberry scented hello kitty toilet paper(lol) and hand soap with a fox on it. THen we walked back to the apartments.
They went out for lunch after, but I didn't wanna spend the money so I figured out how to use my air conditioner, looked around the apartment, and played with my budget and stuff.
THeeeen when I was bored I went and visited Jackie and we checked out the laundry room and the lounge. The laundy room has a TV and an ironing board. The lounge has couches and a TV and novels. We hung out in the lounge for a bit then went out to the dvd/cd store.
Dude. It wasn't just a store. It was heaven. 1/4 of the store was ENTIRELY Touhou. If not more] I almost died. It was insane. I freaked out. XD And I came away with some gashapon and a name card case with Meiling on it. I'm excited to go back.
Then we went to the library and found the media room where we used school computers and internet for a bit. After, we went to the cafeteria, which was closed, but grabbed drinks at the pastry shop there. We also checked out the huge outdoor pool, but it's not open for use yet.
I think afterwards the night was pretty boring. I've been going to sleep relatively early. So that brings us to Thursday.
Apartment orientation!! It was what you would expect. Rules and stuff. But they gave us a bus map and told us about a few good places to go. LIKE BOOK OFF!! I was excited to go so Jackie, her roommate, and I walked there. On the way we found a shrine and took some pictures. We also found a HUGE 24 hour arcade/internet cafe/entertainment building thing. Insane. And then. Book off.
This place was a nonstop spaz fan attack. Walls and walls of manga for just 105 yen!!! @@ I was so enthralled. Then there were all the cds, dvds, video games, and FIGURINES!!! There was a big eva section! *-* I was in heaven. I bought all of Closer, the first Video Girl Ai, the first Ranma, a Do As Infinity cd and it was like $15 total. Heaven! Next door was a used clothes store which was also cheap, I believe.
On our way back, we stopped at a little Takoyaki restaurant and had cold soda, cold udon, and takoyaki. So good! We also found a little family run market like store. Ruyin bought a watermelon and Jackie got tangerines. Yum yum. We walked back and hung out a bit. Bleh, I can't remember much of what else I did that night. Oh yeah. Studied!! Or tried to. Also, my luggage finally got in. It was so nice to have clean clooooothes!
Friday we all got up pretty early. I ironed my shirt and had a コンビニ breakfast. Studied more and then went, in formal wear, to opening ceremonies. The president gave a speach and we were informed of some more information. Then we had a little tour around the school. The self study center is large, often packed, has internet, and is open all day every day! We all went to the cafeteria for lunch after. Really cheap and REALLY good! I had a large bowl of tempura udon for 290 yen. Then Jackie and I checked out the bookstore upstairs. I got the first light novels of Toradora and Shakugan no Shana and some little flash cards.
After, we all hung out in Jackies room for a little before the exam. Oh the exam. I was so scared. But it ended up being really easy, I felt. There was no kanji. I was really surprised. The oral part felt pretty easy and elementary too. All my worries were gone! Yay!
After that we had two hours to kill before the party and kinda just hung around. We waited in the lounge for the SGE Japanese students to pick us up from the lounge to go to the party. They finally came and we walked to the party. There it was pretty awkward for a little while. Then they gave us name tags and put us in a room with tons of food. Just when we started eating, they told us to stop! We all had to do introductions. There were lots of people there. The Hawaiian students, all of us, and lots of Japanese students.
Finally, after awkward introductions with a mic, we got to start eating and attempting to make awkward conversation. I was so scared after this one girl came up to me and we tried to talk but I couldn't understand anything she was saying. I would try to make the right answer, and she would stare at me. She finally walked away and I was thinking I didn't wanna speak to anyone else!
But I paired up with other gaijin and finally talked to a bunch of people throughout the night. I found people that liked video games and other things. Everyone was very nice and their English was as awkward as my Japanese. So far they didn't really speak any Japanese to us, just English. But we spoke Japanese to them.
After the party was over I wanted to karaoke but it didn't seem likely that day. We dawdled in the lounge and by the apartment entrance. Finally, a bunch of us americans went to an arcade just near by. So much fun was had! There was a ddr machine and lots of rhythm games that I tried. upstairs there were lots of mahjohng machines, fighting games, and even computers. There was Evangelion slots and Pachinko! I can't wait to go back. :3
I went to bed shortly after returning.
This morning, Saturday, we had individual evaluations to find out what level class we would be put into based on our exams. I got into the highest level!! Woohoo!! :3
Then we got our school laptops, and I've been in the self study room using the internet ever since lol I'll be off to eat and wander Kanazawa more though. I can't just stay in all day.
Mata ne~
Pictures to come.
The night before I left for Japan I did not really sleep much because I was packing and trying to figure things out. I had to get up and leave at 7 for my flight at 9 am. Bleh!! It feels like all my time went too fast! *sigh* So I played Pokemon like my whole flight to Detroit from Manchester. Then, at Detroit during my 4 hour layover, I watched the new Dr. Who and played World of Goo. I then talked to my parents who told me my chances of getting on the flight were slim to none. Jackie showed up and we hung out and chatted. Then she got on the plane with everyone else and I waited to find out that the flight was, of course, completely full. :(
The lady sends me to the flight going to Nagoya which was right at the next gate! Lucky! I got on easy and I got first class. First order of business was champagne! Yum. We got a lot of meals and I watched Young Victoria, studied, and tried to sleep a bit.
I knew my bags were going to Narita without me and I was really stressed about entering the country and getting to Tokyo on my own. But when I deplaned, the three english-speaking Japanese ladies at the baggage claim helped me fill out some forms to have th bags shipped from Narita to me.
Then I had to figure out the time table for the Nagoya Airport to Nagoya City train and buy a ticket. Then I took that train to Nagoya city which was like 40 minutes. There was a guy reading shounen jump hehe and a school girl. I got off in Nagoya and then and bought a Shinkansen ticket. But she didn't tell me what platform so I wandered lost for a bit and then broke down and asked someone in Japanese where the train was. Platform 15. Then I didnt even know which train to take!
By the time I realized what I needed, I had already missed the train on my ticket by a half hour! And it was already 8:10 and the train is like 2 hours and I needed to be in Shinjuku by 10:20!!! Ugh!
So I asked a man who helped me figure out which train to get on. So I rode the Shinkansen between a business man and a cool woman. I was too nervous to even play pokemon cause I didn't know if I needed to get off at Shinagawa or Tokyo. So I broke down and I asked the business man in Japanese and he said it didn't matter, but Shinagawa was better. (I rode Nozomi, btw. They name their Shinkansen).
So I got off at Shinagawa, walked around lost for a minute or two before asking a guard guy how to get to Shinjuku. Then I got on the train to Shinjuku and proceeded to freak out as the time ticked down. At 10:10 I got to Shinjuku and ran/stumbled in my high heels, which hurt so bad at this point, to the building by the station I needed to be at at 10:20. I wanted to cry! I was just praying "don't let me miss the bus. I will have not only wasted over $100 on the shinkansen ticket when I could have gone straight to Kanazawa, but I'd have to find a place to stay at that late in tokyo (expensive)"
But I got there and everyone was waiting saying we were all way early. They gave me granola bars and fruit by the foot which I gobbled down since I hadn't eaten for almost 6 hours. Then we waited around and chatted till we got onto the bus. It was a large bus that had 10 or so rows of these odd seats. The reclined a bit but were rather small and uncomfortable over all. But they had little bubble shades for sleeping and blankets. And all the windows were covered in black cloth so we could sleep since it was an overnight bus. I think I napped a little bit, but didn't sleep much.
We got into Kanazawa train station at around 7 am and had no idea which bus or where to go to get to said bus to get to KIT. We wandered and used the restroom and tried to make out maps. We finally found a bus driver who took us to the right place and showed us exactly what we needed. So we waited and took our bus to right across the street from the school. My feet hurt so bad. We walked to the front and Kayo and two other ladies greeted us, gave us packets of stuff, and walked us to the apartment building. Then we were free to do whatever.
I luckily borrowed some of Jackie's shoes which were a goddamned lifesaver. I'm on the fourth floor of Nishikawa Heights and for some reason I have the apartment all to myself (the packet included a map of who is living where). So I have three bedrooms to MYSELF. I unpacked my little amount of stuff in my room and tried to take a shower, but I couldn't figure out the hot water. I had no toilet paper either. ;_;
Then I looked through the packet, visited Sarah and Jackie who live right near me, then all 11 of us (2 of the 13 in our group did not take the night bus) went out to find food. But it was still early at 10 am. Nothing opens till 11 except for convenience stores. So we went to a コンビニ and I got an onigiri, tea, and a melon bread. The onigiri was SOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!!!!! Much better than what I make.
We walked around a lot and found a LARGE コンビニ which just had..it had EVERYTHING. So I grabbed strawberry scented hello kitty toilet paper(lol) and hand soap with a fox on it. THen we walked back to the apartments.
They went out for lunch after, but I didn't wanna spend the money so I figured out how to use my air conditioner, looked around the apartment, and played with my budget and stuff.
THeeeen when I was bored I went and visited Jackie and we checked out the laundry room and the lounge. The laundy room has a TV and an ironing board. The lounge has couches and a TV and novels. We hung out in the lounge for a bit then went out to the dvd/cd store.
Dude. It wasn't just a store. It was heaven. 1/4 of the store was ENTIRELY Touhou. If not more] I almost died. It was insane. I freaked out. XD And I came away with some gashapon and a name card case with Meiling on it. I'm excited to go back.
Then we went to the library and found the media room where we used school computers and internet for a bit. After, we went to the cafeteria, which was closed, but grabbed drinks at the pastry shop there. We also checked out the huge outdoor pool, but it's not open for use yet.
I think afterwards the night was pretty boring. I've been going to sleep relatively early. So that brings us to Thursday.
Apartment orientation!! It was what you would expect. Rules and stuff. But they gave us a bus map and told us about a few good places to go. LIKE BOOK OFF!! I was excited to go so Jackie, her roommate, and I walked there. On the way we found a shrine and took some pictures. We also found a HUGE 24 hour arcade/internet cafe/entertainment building thing. Insane. And then. Book off.
This place was a nonstop spaz fan attack. Walls and walls of manga for just 105 yen!!! @@ I was so enthralled. Then there were all the cds, dvds, video games, and FIGURINES!!! There was a big eva section! *-* I was in heaven. I bought all of Closer, the first Video Girl Ai, the first Ranma, a Do As Infinity cd and it was like $15 total. Heaven! Next door was a used clothes store which was also cheap, I believe.
On our way back, we stopped at a little Takoyaki restaurant and had cold soda, cold udon, and takoyaki. So good! We also found a little family run market like store. Ruyin bought a watermelon and Jackie got tangerines. Yum yum. We walked back and hung out a bit. Bleh, I can't remember much of what else I did that night. Oh yeah. Studied!! Or tried to. Also, my luggage finally got in. It was so nice to have clean clooooothes!
Friday we all got up pretty early. I ironed my shirt and had a コンビニ breakfast. Studied more and then went, in formal wear, to opening ceremonies. The president gave a speach and we were informed of some more information. Then we had a little tour around the school. The self study center is large, often packed, has internet, and is open all day every day! We all went to the cafeteria for lunch after. Really cheap and REALLY good! I had a large bowl of tempura udon for 290 yen. Then Jackie and I checked out the bookstore upstairs. I got the first light novels of Toradora and Shakugan no Shana and some little flash cards.
After, we all hung out in Jackies room for a little before the exam. Oh the exam. I was so scared. But it ended up being really easy, I felt. There was no kanji. I was really surprised. The oral part felt pretty easy and elementary too. All my worries were gone! Yay!
After that we had two hours to kill before the party and kinda just hung around. We waited in the lounge for the SGE Japanese students to pick us up from the lounge to go to the party. They finally came and we walked to the party. There it was pretty awkward for a little while. Then they gave us name tags and put us in a room with tons of food. Just when we started eating, they told us to stop! We all had to do introductions. There were lots of people there. The Hawaiian students, all of us, and lots of Japanese students.
Finally, after awkward introductions with a mic, we got to start eating and attempting to make awkward conversation. I was so scared after this one girl came up to me and we tried to talk but I couldn't understand anything she was saying. I would try to make the right answer, and she would stare at me. She finally walked away and I was thinking I didn't wanna speak to anyone else!
But I paired up with other gaijin and finally talked to a bunch of people throughout the night. I found people that liked video games and other things. Everyone was very nice and their English was as awkward as my Japanese. So far they didn't really speak any Japanese to us, just English. But we spoke Japanese to them.
After the party was over I wanted to karaoke but it didn't seem likely that day. We dawdled in the lounge and by the apartment entrance. Finally, a bunch of us americans went to an arcade just near by. So much fun was had! There was a ddr machine and lots of rhythm games that I tried. upstairs there were lots of mahjohng machines, fighting games, and even computers. There was Evangelion slots and Pachinko! I can't wait to go back. :3
I went to bed shortly after returning.
This morning, Saturday, we had individual evaluations to find out what level class we would be put into based on our exams. I got into the highest level!! Woohoo!! :3
Then we got our school laptops, and I've been in the self study room using the internet ever since lol I'll be off to eat and wander Kanazawa more though. I can't just stay in all day.
Mata ne~
Pictures to come.
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